Stepping Stones
by whitelilies
Summary: [RyoSaku] To get to a higher position, one needs to start small...
1. Osakada Tomoka: The best friend

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Prince of Tennis or its characters

**A/N**: My love of RyoSaku is back. Thanks to **UndyingMelodies**! (Is that how you spell it?)

Dedicated to all you fans of RxS!

**Warning:** There might be some oocness.

* * *

She watched her feet as she walked. Her left hand skimmed the brick wall built around Seigaku. The green uniform she wore didn't have a wrinkle on it and not a single piece of hair strayed from the two identical braids that swept past her petit waist. The two pink hair clips at the top of her head kept the rebellious hairs at bay. 

Obaachan had warned her not to walk while watching her feet because she would bump into people. So far so good though, the entire time she walked to school, **no one **had bumped into Ryuzaki Sakuno! Plus, if she watched her feet, chances of tripping were much less…She didn't know by how much though…maybe Tomo-chan would come with her to ask Inui-sempai…Even if she did fall over somehow, she would steady herself by using the brick wall for support.

Yes, she had everything planned out…**everything**, like the talk she was going to have with her best friend.

"SA-KU-NO!" Speaking of which...

Sakuno stopped moving and looked up to find Osakada Tomoka, her best friend since grade school, bounding up to her. Adjusting her brown side bag to her right side, she gave her a grin.

"Ohayo, Tomo-chan."

"Ohayo Ohayo! You seem to be in a good mood today, what's up?" Tomo-chan looked her up and down, and Sakuno saw her eyebrow rise. So she noticed the lack of tripping, what a great morning she was having!

"I didn't trip or bump into anyone today!" She replied, clapping her hands together and confirming what Tomo-chan was thinking. Tomo blinked. She then gave her a thumbs up sign,

"Way to go! Oh and what did you want to tell me?" Sakuno blinked and she then looked around them.

"There's too many people here. Let's go over **there**, neh?" Tomo-chan frowned, and Sakuno guessed that Tomo-chan now knew that this was a serious talk.

"Alright then…lead the way Sakuno! And don't worry, I'm here to catch you if you fall! Count on me!" Tomoka pumped her fist in the air while Sakuno giggled.

* * *

To Tomoka's surprise, Sakuno didn't trip once on the way to **there**. 

**There** was their 'special' place. It was a place where they would go if they needed to talk about anything or wanted to hang out.

It was located behind the tennis courts and on a hill. The grassy hill led up to a forest-ish area, shrubs and trees occupied the flat land on the top of the green hill. The big willow tree provided shad whenever they needed it, and now was the time. Another reason why Tomoka liked this spot so much was because she would be able to watch Ryoma-sama playing tennis very clearly.

Sakuno settled by the willow tree and she sat down next to her. The latter turned to the tennis courts in front of them and watched the regulars practise, as did Sakuno.

"So…what did you want to talk about?" Tomoka started off, not talking her eyes off of the courts, mainly Fuji-sempai, who was drinking the juice Inui had made. From the corners of her eyes, she saw Sakuno draw up her knees.

"Tomo-chan…what does love mean to you?"

Tomoka looked at the older girl with a perplexed look, "Eh?"

Sakuno kept her gaze on the courts, "Love…have you ever fallen in love before?"

"Neh…Sakuno, you should know if I did or not."

"Oh right…" Tomoka leaned back and had her arms support her.

"But…I think love is when two people are attracted to each other. Not only to their looks though, but to the personality as well. But I've never fallen in love before, so I wouldn't know really...hehe." Tomoka closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck with her right arm. Then she opened them again and looked at Sakuno, "Why the sudden love thing?"

Sakuno turned her gaze to her. "…Do you think I can say 'I love you' to Ryoma-kun?" Tomoka arched her eyebrows and was glad for the fact that she didn't like like Ryoma-sama anymore. Though, this was **not **was she was expecting. So what was she supposed to do now?

"Uhhh…Umm…Ahh…" She remembered her previous words.

With some confidence and a louder tone, she spoke. "Why do you like him?" Sakuno bit her lip and leaned back against the willow tree. "I…I don't know…mou…" Sakuno bowed her head.

Tomoka folded her arms and legs. "So you can't say you **love** him just yet. Especially when you don't know the reason why you like Ryoma-sama. Buuutttt," She stuck up her pointer finger and closed her eyes. "You did say that he inspired you to take up tennis right?" Sakuno nodded. "I also think that you're attracted to his looks and skills." Tomoka opened an eye and found Sakuno gaping at her.

She opened both eyes and waved her hands side-to-side. "Don't get me wrong or anything! It's a normal thing for us humans, actually. So right now Sakuno, start small…start with friendship." Sakuno bit her lip again and after a few minutes of consideration,she smiled, "Thank you, Tomo-chan!"

_Ding Dong. _

They were interrupted by the school bell. The younger girl stood up to leave and shifted her gaze to the other. "Let's go or we'll be late, neh." Sakuno nodded and got up to follow her down the hill.

"Oi, Sakuno, be careful, the grass is still-" As she turned her head to warn her friend, Tomokasaw that it was too late. Her eyes bulged out as Sakuno came down, crashing into her.

"WHOA!" The two girls went tumbling down the rest of the way. As soon as they reached the bottom, the bags that ditched them fell on Tomoka's head.

"Mou…and I was having an accident-free morning too…"

"Neh, Sakuno?" Tomoka said in a sickly sweet voice.

"Y-yes?"

"GET OFF!"

"Ahh! O-of course!" Sakuno rolled off of her. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, I should be used to this."

Although she said she was used to it, the pain was something she hadn't adjusted to yet. She let out a groan, 'How many times have I told her **not** to take all of her books home? Owwwww…'

"Fsssshhhh…"

Tomoka opened her eyes to find a scary man- no wait, it was Kaidoh-sempai.

He wore his school uniform…which really did make him look scary. Her eyes travelled down to where his arm was extended for her to take it. She took it and in one smooth movement, she was on her feet.

"T-thank you sempai…" Tomoka heard her friend thank the dude and decided too as well. "T-"

Kaidoh-sempai had already started to walk off towards the school.

'Eh…?' Her eyebrows were formed together to show confusion. "Tomo-chan! We're late!" With that, she let herself be dragged away by Sakuno.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm using a new writing style! Yah! 

Anyway, next time:

Echizen Ryoma- The target.


	2. Echizen Ryoma: The target

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.

* * *

The willow tree could be seen from where Sakuno sat.

The sky was a beautiful light blue colour. The yellowish sun cast a glow against the white clouds that sat amongst the sky. It was warm out yet Sakuno felt cool down at her lower half that sat on the hard pavement.

It was lunchtime and the pigtailed girl found herself at the school rooftop. She had been coming to this spot lately to work on her art. Tomo-chan had told her that her lines were becoming more distinct making the object clearer.

Because she was a determined girl, Sakuno wanted to improve more on it. She reached over to her brown side bag and removed a green sketchbook, white eraser and a lead pencil.

After placing the said items down, she squirmed around to make herself more comfortable in her surroundings. The door that led to the rooftop was to her right and she edged away a bit. She had a tendency of hurting herself frequently.

Sakuno stretched her legs out in front of her and tried to touch her toes. After doing her normal routine, the girl picked up her things and started to draw.

About 10 minutes later, she found that something was not right with her drawing. Biting her lip, the pigtailed girl looked back and forth between the sketch and 'the place'.

Since the metal wire gates surrounded the rooftop – so no one could fall – Sakuno couldn't see the scenery clearly. She could connect the lines easily…but it wouldn't seem right. Like she thought before, improvising could work but she'd rather not. For if she did, Sakuno knew that she would get carried away with it, making it a figment of her imagination.

"Mou…"

She placed the sketchbook to her other side and brought up her knees to her chin. She couldn't continue the drawing because before she would know it, there would be pineapple trees and candy cane bushes…Did pineapples even grow on trees? She didn't know.

The thought caused her to frown and she sighed. So much for a great day.

Sakuno tilted her head back and let it rest against the wall. The sun let its warmth travel down to her neck and she sighed. It felt good on her skin and it saddened her when she realized that the days to come wouldn't be so warm anymore. The autumn season was coming and the leaves would be changing…

The scenes in autumn were the most beautiful ones to draw in her opinion. She closed her cinnamon eyes and thought about the things that had been said earlier that day.

'_Become good friends with him!'_

That particular sentence had been haunting her sine Tomo-chan let them out of her mouth. She could talk to him – Ryoma-kun – whenever she wanted in class, if he had even been the slightest bit interested.

Both pre-teens sat beside each other at the back of the classroom. Sadly enough, Ryoma-kun had the privilege of sitting next to the window. Maybe it was a good thing because he would be constantly looking out the window during their English lesson. That gave her time to sketch out a rough draft of him…well the back of his head anyway.

A small grin was plastered on her face and her heartbeat sped up a bit. Even thinking about the boy made her blush.

As Sakuno spent time on her thoughts, she didn't hear the door open and shot out of her little world when it hit her shoe. She blushed when she found the object of her affection poking his head around the door to look at her.

Echizen Ryoma. His golden eyes seemed to have little interest for the brief moment they caught hers. Even though the moment was brief, Sakuno's heartbeat had quickened.

He pulled his head back around and stepped out of the doorway. After, he closed the door, the young tennis player made his way to the right of the doorway.

Sakuno took a deep breath; it was now or never.

* * *

Ryoma tucked his arms behind his head and lay against the pavement with a yawn.

It had been a long and boring day again. For some reason, all the teachers had been repeating themselves over and over again…or was it just him? No, no, it couldn't have been him, most definitely the teachers.

He didn't have any practices later on during the day, which was a little odd but good just the same. Because his plans were cancelled today, he was free to do what he wanted.

That he would think about later because right now, darkness called out to him. Ryoma opened his mouth again to let out another yawn.

"Ano…"

Wow, he really must have been tired since he already started to hear things.

"Ryoma-kun…"

He felt his eyebrows wrinkle, how come he wasn't seeing any images but hearing voices? A really quiet one too.

"Ryoma-kun…"

Okay, he was sure that he wasn't dreaming. His eyelids opened and revealed hazel eyes. The irises jumped around to find the source of the voice. They finally landed on a girl with long braided hair. What was her name again? Alice? Mina? Chizuru?

"A-ano…umm…well I-I was wo-won-ndering…ano I-if…"

A few fragmented sentences later, Ryoma really wished that he had worn his white Fila cap. That way, he would have bee able to use it to cover his eyes. Even though the girl could not form a sentence properly, it would be rude to simply close his eyes…at least, that what his perverted oyaji had told him. Now if he had that certain item, he was sure that he would be able to get away with…

"F-friendship?"

He blinked, what did the girl say? "What?" It was noticed that she had come closer to him but still was not in hearing distance.

She, in turn, blinked as well before averting her eyes to the ground. He then tilted his head to the side to take in a larger portion of her.

The girl sat with her legs tucked in underneath her. Her back was slightly hunched over as she looked down at the gray floor. Her hands clutched her knee length skirt and her eyes were now shut tightly.

Again she tried to speak but it was an effort that went to waste since he couldn't hear her. When he crept in closer to try to hear her, he _finally_ heard some words even though they _were_ spoken softly. What he got so far was:

"A-ano Ryoma-kun…would…something…friendship?"

"…Whatever." In doubt, always use that word. It neither meant yes or no and sounded better than maybe. Well, it did to him anyway.

He turned his face back towards the sky in hopes of getting some sleep. It was then Ryoma heard a quiet whimper, kind of like the kind Karupin made. His eyes tore open and the boy shot up. Was his cat here?

When Ryoma looked to his left, he found that girl looking at him with a hurt look. What was her problem?

"I-I'm so-sorry for tr-troubling y-you…" She spoke so quietly and he couldn't hear her.

"What?"

"Eh…I-I said…that I-I'm so-sorry for trou-troubling y-you…"

"What?"

His face now played host to a tiny frown with an annoyed look to go with it. Was it so hard for her to speak up? What he didn't expect was her face to lost colour and eyes to display annoyance.

"Ryoma-kun no baka! I'm telling you that I'm sorry for troubling you!"

During her outburst, the girl had risen to her knees and her hands were turned into little fists in front of her.

His eyes widened slightly and he backed up a bit. Fangirls he could handle but an angry girl was definitely something else he knew he couldn't. This wasn't part of his training. The pigtailed girl seemed to have realized what she did for the next thing he knew she was back at her normal position and apologizing frantically.

It hit him. The girl in front of him was the coach's granddaughter, Ryuzaki. Her first name was something he didn't know. So as he watched her head bob up and down repeatedly, he wondered if she was in danger of breaking her neck.

"Oi, you can stop now."

She completely froze, not making any kind of movement. He starred at her for a while longer and curled up onto his side.

"Whatever means sure in America."

Hopefully she received the message and would leave him alone now. He had missed out on 2 hours of sleep just to get to practice this morning. He cat-like eyes closed and the next thing he saw was Karupin playing in a sandbox.

* * *

**A/N**: Hehe, I'm taking **UndyingMelodies'** advice and taking breaks in writing this fic. This story is one where everyone needs to be in character so it might take awhile. Thanks for reading and next time:

Tachibana An: The flirt


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